Wire spring assembly for mattresses

ABSTRACT

A WIRE SPRING ASSEMBLY PARTICULARLY ADAPTED FOR MATTRESSES FOR BEDS CONSISTING OF A PLURALITY OF SPRINGS EACH OF WHICH IS FORMED FROM STRAIGHT WIRE SECTIONS CONNECTED SO AS TO FORM A PAIR OF FLAT WIRE DECKS SPACED APART A DISTANCE LESS THAN THE DESIRED THICKNESS OF THE MATTRESS AND CONNECTED BY RESILIENT SPRINGS WHICH ALLOW THE DECKS TO MOVE RESILIENTLY TOWARD EACH OTHER UNDER LOAD. EACH DECK INCLUDES A RECTANGULAR BORDER WIRE WHICH ENCLOSES AN AREA CORRESPONDING SUBSTANTIALLY TO THE DESIRED AREA OF THE   MATTRESS, AND SOME OF THE SPRINGS WHICH RESIST MOVEMENT OF THE DECKS TOWARD EACH OTHER ARE CONNECTED BETWEEN THE BORDER WIRES SO AS TO IMPART FIRMNESS TO THE SPRING ASSEMBLY.

WIRE SPRING. ASSEMBLY FOR MATTRESSES I Filed uovfle, 1.968 ,2 Sheets-Sheet 1 50 L a J 1U S -Q-E FIG .[1

/ ATTORNEYS Feb. -9, 1971 V. SLOMINSKI WIRE SPRING ASSEMBLY FOR MATTRESSES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov 19, 1968 INVENTOR WALTER V. SLOM INSKI ATTORNEYS United States Patent O WIRE SPRING ASSEMBLY FOR MA'ITRESSES Walter V. Slominski, Lexington, Ky., assignor to Hoover Ball and Bearing Company, Saline, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed Nov. 19, 1968, Ser. No. 777,099 Int. Cl. A47c 23/00 U.S. Cl. -247 18 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A wire spring assembly particularly adapted for mattresses for beds consisting of a plurality of springs each of which is formed from straight wire sections connected so as to form a pair of fiat wire decks spaced apart a distance less than the desired thickness of the mattress and connected by resilient springs which allow the decks to move resiliently toward each other under load. Each deck includes a rectangular border wire which encloses an area corresponding substantially to the desired area of the mattress, and some of the springs which resist movement of the decks toward each other are connected between the border wires so as to impart firmness to the spring assembly.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Mattresses for beds of the type which include inner springs are conventionally equipped with the well-known coil springs. The coil springs are suitably connected and covered with the necessary padding and fabric to complete the mattress. Mattresses of this type have been in use for many years and are generally satisfactory. However, mattresses of this type are somewhat expensive to manufacture, and in addition are sometimes found to be objectionable from the standpoint of firmness control and also because a load on one portion of the mattress tends to impart undesirable deflection to other parts of the mattress.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The wire spring assembly of this invention, which is particularly adapted for use in mattresses, although it is not limited to this particular use, consists of a plurality of wires arranged crisscross fashion so as to form a pair of flat wire decks which are vertically spaced and a plurality of resilient wire spring units which are connected to and extended between the decks so as to yieldably support one of the decks on the other. The decks are formed from a plurality of identical spring modules which extend longitudinally of the spring assembly. This modular construction facilitates manufacture of a spring assembly of a desired width by utilizing the required number of modules to form a spring assembly of this width. This is particularly advantageous in the case of wire spring assemblies for mattresses since mattresses are generally of the same length but vary as to width depending on Whether they are intended for a twin bed, double bed, queen size bed, king size bed, etc. Furthermore, the modular construction of the spring assembly tends to provide for somewhat independent spring support of transversely spaced portions of the spring assembly so that a load on one portion of the assembly has a minimum deflection effect on portions of the spring assembly spaced transversely therefrom. The modules are connected by cross wire springs, and rectangular border wires are connected to the springs so as to form the peripheral boundaries of the decks. Internal springs which form a part of each module are of the torsion bar construction and are therefore readily fabricated so as to provide the desired yieldable firmness resisting a load on a wire deck. Quantity manufacture of the spring assembly is facilitated by the formation of identical spring end portions and the use of internal springs which are substantially identical to the spring end portions which extend between the border wires.

The principal object of this invention, therefore, is to provide an improved wire spring assembly of the above described type which is readily manufactured at an economical cost and which has improved load supporting capabilities.

Further objects, features and advantages of this invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description, the appended claims, and the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the wire spring assembly of this invention, with a center portion of the assembly broken away to indicate that the assembly can be formed of any desired width;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a spring module in the spring assembly of this invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged foreshortened transverse sectional view of the spring assembly of this invention as seen from substantially the line 33 in FIG. 1; and

FIGS. 4 and 5 are enlarged fragmentary sectional views of the spring assembly of this invention as seen from substantially the lines 44 and 5-5, respectively, in FIG. 1.

With reference to the drawing, the spring assembly of this invention, indicated generally at 10, is illustrated in FIG. 1 as including a plurality of wires 12 and 14 arranged crisscross fashion so as to form a first spring deck 16 which is substantially flat and is hereinafter referred to as the top deck for convenience of description. A plurality of similar wires, corresponding to the wires 12 and 14, and indicated at 18 and 20 in FIGS. 3 and 5, respectively, cooperate to form a second wire deck 22 which is identical to the deck 16 and is hereinafter referred to as the bottom deck for convenience of description. When the spring assembly 10 is used for a mattress, the decks 16 and 22 are spaced apart a distance-slightly less than the desired thickness of the mattress so that when the spring assembly 10 is covered with the usual padding and fabric covering it will form a mattress of the desired thickness. The decks 16 and 22 are maintained in this desired spaced relation, when neither of the decks is under load, by a plurality of resilient spring units, indicated generally at 24, which yieldably resist movement of one deck toward the other when the one deck is loaded.

The top and bottom decks 16 and 22 are formed by assembling a plurality of identical spring modules 26 (FIG. 2) in a side-by-side relation. Each module 26 includes a pair of main springs, namely, a top main spring 28 and a bottom main spring 30. One of the wires 14 in the top deck 16 forms the body portion of the top main spring 28 and is of a length corresponding to the desired length of the spring assembly 10. The top main spring 28 also includes a resilient end portion 32 which forms one on the spring units 24 and extends in a direction substantially perpendicular to the body portion 14 at one end thereof. The end portion 32 includes a top torsion bar 34, a bottom torsion bar 36, and reversely inclined connecting bars 38 and 40 formed integral with the torsion bars 34 and 36, respectively, and extended toward each other. A pair of intermediate torsion bars 42 and 44 are formed integral with the inner ends of the connecting bars 38 and 40 and are connected by a spacer bar 46 which is substantially perpendicular to the decks 16 and 22. The end portion 32 terminates in a foot 48 perpendicular to the bottom torsion bar 36 and substantially aligned with the body portion 14.

The bottom main spring 30 is identical to the main spring 28 and includes a body portion, formed by one of the bottom deck wires 20 and an end portion 50 which extends generally perpendicular to the body portion 14 and is identical to the end portion 32 of the top main spring 28. Like numerals are used, therefore, to indicate like parts in the spring end portions 32 and 50. The spring end portion 50 terminates in a foot 52 which is substantially aligned with the body portion 20. The springs 28 and 30 are assembled so as to form the generally rectangular module 26 by employing a clip 54 to connect the foot 48 to the end 56 of the spring 30 and by employing a clip 58 to secure the foot 52 to the end 60 of the spring 28. This assembly provides for vertical alignment of the spring body portions 14 and 20.

Each of the spring end portions 32 and 50 constitute a spring unit 24 connecting the decks 16 and 18. Additional spring units 24 are independently assembled with the spring body portions 14 and 20, as shown in FIG. 2, and each of these internal spring units 24 is substantially identical to a spring end portion 32, so like numerals are employed to indicate like parts thereof. Each internal spring 24 terminates at its ends in feet 62 which are substantially perpendicular to the end torsion bars 34 and 36 which are spaced apart a distance corresponding to the spacing of the deck wires 14 and 20. As a result, the feet 62 are readily positioned side by side with the wires 14 and 20 and secured thereto by clips 64. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, each module includes six internal support springs 24, but it is to be understood that any desired number of internal support springs 24 can be supplied, the exact number being determined by the degree of firmness required in the module 26.

The spring assembly also includes a plurality of cross wire springs, arranged in pairs, like the main springs 26 and 30, a pair of such cross wire springs being indicated at 66 and 68 in FIG. 3. The top cross wire spring 66 has a body portion, formed by one of the top deck wires 12 and an integral end portion 70 which is identical in configuration to the main spring end portion 32. The bottom cross wire spring 68 has a body portion formed by one of the bottom deck wires 18 and an end portion 72 which is identical to the main spring end portion 50. Since the cross wire spring end portions 70 and 72 are identical to the spring end portions 32 and 50, like numerals are used to indicate like parts. The spring end portion 70 terminates in a foot 74 secured by a clip 76 to one end of the bottom spring body portion 18 and the bottom spring end portion 72 terminates in a similar foot 78 secured by a clip 80 to one end of the top spring body portion 12.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the cross wire spring body portions 12 and 18 are aligned with the torsion bars 34 and 36, respectively, in the internal support springs 24 and are secured thereto by clips 82 so as to maintain the modules 26 in a desired spaced relation. Thus, the number of cross wire springs 66 and 68 correspond in number to the number of internal support springs 24 in a module 26.

The top deck 16 is bounded by a generally rectangular border wire 84, and an identical border wire 86 defines the periphery of the lower deck 22. The top border wire 84 is secured by clips 88 to the top torsion bars 34 in the spring end portions 32, 50, 70 and 72 and the bottom border wire is similarly connected by clips 90 to the bottom torsion bars 36 in the spring end portions 32, 50, 70 and 72. Conventional corner wires 92 (FIG. 4) are secured to the border wires 84 and 86 at the corners of the assembly 10 for providing corner support primarily for the fabric covering usually applied to the spring assembly 10.

From the above description it is seen that this invention provides a spring assembly 10 consisting of a plurality of longitudinally extending spring modules 26 which are connected intermediate their ends by cross wire springs 66 and 68 and at their ends by the usual border wires 84 and 86. As a result, a spring assembly 10 of any desired width can be readily manufactured by assembling the necessary number of modules 26. The modules can be spaced apart any desired distance to form a spring assembly of a desired firmness, and by virtue of this moduler construction, a load on one module has a minimum effect on a module spaced therefrom. Since the main springs 28 and 30 which form a module 26 are identical, and since the cross Wire springs 66 and 68 are identical to each other and differ from the main springs 28 and 30 only as to length, the necessary springs for the assembly 10 are readily manufactured at an economical cost. Furthermore, this cost saving is further enhanced by the similar construction of the internal support spring units 24 so that they are substantially identical to the main spring end portions. By virtue of the particular construction of the internal support spring units 24, and the main and cross spring end portions which function as spring units 24 extending between the border wires 84 and 86, an effective resistance to loads applied to the decks 16 and 22 is obtained with a minimum amount of wire material. By merely varying the length of the spacer bars 46 in these spring units 24, a spring assembly 10 of the desired thickness is readily obtained.

When the spring assembly 10 or any part thereof, is subjected to a load tending to move one of the decks 16 or 22 toward the other deck, the connecting bars 38 and 40 fold toward each other. This results in twisting of the torsion bars 34, 36, 42 and 44, and the inherent resistance of the torsion bars to such twisting imparts the desired yieldable resistance of the assembly to the load. 'It is this characteristic of the assembly which imparts comfort to the user.

It will be understood that the wire spring assembly for mattresse which its herein disclosed and described is presented for purposes of explanation and illustration and is not intended to indicate limits of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A wire spring assembly comprising a plurality of first wires arranged crisscross fashion and disposed in a first plane so as to form a first generally rectangular wire deck, a plurality of second wires arranged crisscross fashion and disposed in a second plane generally parallel to said first plane so as to form a second generally rectangular wire deck, and a plurality of resilient wire spring units connected to and extending between said decks so as to yieldably resist movement of one of said decks toward the other deck.

2. A wire spring assembly according to claim 1 wherein each of said spring units includes a plurality of torsion bars.

3. A wire spring assembly according to claim 2 wherein each of said spring units is formed adjacent its ends with torsion bars, and clip means securing said torsion bars to said decks.

4. A wire spring assembly according to claim 3 wherein each of said spring units is formed between said end torsion bars with a pair of reversely inclined connecting bars formed integral with said end torsion bars.

5. A wire spring assembly according to claim 1 wherein each of said wire decks includes a substantially rectangular border wire at its periphery.

6. A wire spring assembly according to claim 5 wherein some of said spring units are secured to and extended between said border wires, each of said last mentioned spring units being integrally formed at one of its ends with one of said deck wires.

7. For use in a wire spring assembly, a spring module comprising a pair of main springs, each of said main springs including an elongated body portion having a pair of ends and a resilient end portion at one of said ends of said body portion, said main springs being arranged so that said body portions are in substantially parallel planes and said end portions are at opposite ends of said body portions, each of said end portions extending between said planes, means connecting the end portion of each one of said main springs to the other one of said ends of the other one of said main springs, and a plurality of spaced internal support springs secured to and extending between the body portions of said main springs.

8. A spring module according to claim 7 wherein each of said end portions includes a pair of substantially parallel torsion bars disposed in said planes, and reversely inclined connecting bars formed integral with said torsion bars for relative folding movement in response to movement of said body portions toward each other.

9. A spring module according to claim 8 wherein each of said internal support springs includes a pair of torsion bars disposed substantially in said planes at positions substantially parallel to said end portion torsion bars, and relatively inclined connecting bars extending between and formed integral with said torsion bars.

10. A spring module according to claim 9 wherein each of said main spring end portions and each of said internal support springs includes a pair of torsion bars disposed between said planes and a spacer bar extending between said last mentioned torsion bars and disposed substantially perpendicular to said planes.

11. A wire spring assembly comprising a plurality of spring modules, each of said modules including a pair of main springs each having an elongated body portion provided with a pair of ends and a resilient end portion at one of said ends of said body portion, said main springs being arranged so that said body portions are in substantially parallel planes and said end portions are at opposite ends of said body portions and extend between said planes, means connecting the end portion of each one of said main springs to the other one of said ends of the other one of said main springs, internal support springs secured to and extending between the body portions of said main springs, said modules being arranged side by side, and cross wires connected to and extending between adjacent ones of said modules.

12. A wire spring assembly according to claim 11 wherein each of said cross wires forms a part of a cross spring having a resilient end portion extending between said planes.

13. A wire spring assembly according to claim 12 wherein said cross springs are arranged in pairs, with the end portion of one of said cross springs in each pair being connected to the end of the other cross spring in said pair.

14. A wire spring assembly according to claim 13 further including a pair of rectangular border wires disposed substantially in said planes, and means securing said border wires to the end portions of each of said main springs and said cross springs.

15. A wire spring assembly according to claim 14 wherein each of said spring end portions and each of said internal springs is formed adjacent its ends with a pair of substantially parallel torsion bars disposed in said planes, and means including a pair of reversely inclined connecting bars formed integral with said torsion bars for relative folding movement in response to movement of said main spring body portions toward each other.

16. A wire spring assembly according to claim 15 wherein said end torsion bars in each of said internal springs are connected to said cross springs and wherein each of said internal springs further includes a foot formed integral with each of said torsion bars and extending angularly relative thereto, and means securing each of said internal spring feet to the body portion of one of said main springs.

17. For use in a wire spring assembly which includes a plurality of wires arranged so as to form a pair of substantially parallel wire decks, a support spring adapted to be connected to and extended between said decks, said spring comprising a unitary wire member shaped to form a pair of substantially parallel end torsion bars, relatively reversely inclined connecting bars formed integral with said torsion bars and extending generally toward each other, substantially parallel intermediate torsion bars formed integral with said connecting bars, and a spacer bar formed integral with and extending between said intermediate torsion bars.

18. A wire spring according to claim 17 further including an integral attaching foot on each of said end torsion bars extending substantially perpendicular thereto.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,286,281 1/1966 Slominski 5-255X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,349,556 1/1963 France 5-254 CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

